New Delhi:Climate activist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk is on a ‘climate fast’ at Leh in Ladakh. The Ramon Magsaysay Award winner of 2017 is on a hunger strike – a fast unto death – to demand special status and statehood for Ladakh.
In a virtual press conference from his protest site on Wednesday (March 13), Wangchuk highlighted why the implementation of the Sixth Schedule (which gives states in hilly regions with a significant tribal population special administrative powers) in and statehood for Ladakh is crucial for its ecology, environment and indigenous peoples.
Responding to The Wire’s specific questions, Wangchuk said that the climate fast is about giving rights to local indigenous peoples in Ladakh’s administration because they will be more concerned about the next generation than a three-year term bureaucrat who has no idea about its distinct topography, environment, culture and linguistics would be.
“Material development” that is limitless and disregards natural resources and indigenous people, wildlife, flora and fauna is not development, he said.
Wangchuk also told The Wire that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, it is certain that the BJP will lose its votes and seat in Ladakh because people have lost faith in the party that went back on its promises to implement the Sixth Schedule twice.
The innovator of ice stupa fame appealed to people across the country to join him on one day of his 21-day fast: on Sunday (March 17).
And citizens are responding: many plan to come together in silent gatherings to take the fast on Sunday and show solidarity with Ladakh, its people and its environment.
“About truth, environment, democracy”
At the virtual press conference conducted by the environmental group Friends of Ladakh and Friends of Nature (FOLFON, which has been banded together to spread the word of Wangchuk’s climate fast) on Wednesday, Wangchuk first gave an introduction to his ongoing 21-day climate fast at Leh in Ladakh.
Today is day eight of his fast and he is surviving only on water and salt, he said.
#SAVELADAKH #SAVEHIMALAYAS
Sonam Wangchuk appeals to the world to live simply,
starts #ClimateFast of 21 days (extendable till death)
Please watch full video in English here:https://t.co/XHkcIdQQ7b#ILiveSimply #MissionLiFE #ClimateActionNow pic.twitter.com/KQi5EMro9X— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) March 6, 2024
“It is an indefinite fast or fast unto death, but we are doing it in cycles of 21 days or as necessary because 21 days is the longest fast that Mahatma Gandhi kept in India’s independence struggle and we are total followers of his fast of peaceful expression and therefore we thought it would be great to follow that and make it multiples of his longest fast,” Wangchuk said.
“We very much hope though that there will be good sense prevailing on either side and everything will be resolved sooner than that. But if not we are very much prepared for longer durations.”
“Why this fast? It’s about truth, it’s about [the] environment, and it’s about democracy,” he added.
Even when Ladakh was with Jammu and Kashmir for some 70 years, its people have always wanted to be an entity of their own, because it had always been an independent kingdom in the Himalayas like Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet, said Wangchuk.
That’s because Ladakh’s topography, environment, culture and linguistics have all been very different not just from Jammu and Kashmir and India, but the world too.
When Ladakh received the tag of a Union territory (UT) in 2019 (“much to all our surprise”, in Wangchuk’s words), the people of Ladakh were very grateful to the ruling party. But their “expectation and demand” had always been that they have a legislative assembly, “which means the democratic representation of people in an assembly which will then make laws and policies to manage the fragile ecosystems of these mountains”, Wangchuk said.
Another thing was about the safeguards of this especially fragile zone, and Article 370 provided that, he said.
“But we were okay with [Article] 370 going because only that could allow Ladakh to be a separate entity. We were okay about that for Ladakh … of course, it’s a different case for Jammu and Kashmir.”
‘“Natural no-brainer” but BJP didn’t deliver’
Ladakh expected that its safeguards would come from the Sixth Schedule, the climate activist said:
“Because this [schedule] is tailor-made for hilly regions with distinct indigenous tribal communities. And normally, 50% tribal population is enough to qualify for that, but Ladakh has 97%. So we were hands-down qualified for that,” he commented.
“And we had no doubt that the government that was kind enough to make Ladakh a UT would also give us that. It was a natural no-brainer.”
The government itself assured the people of Ladakh again and again that this safeguard would be given to Ladakh, and they spoke in large gatherings about this, Wangchuk said.
Also read: The Roots of Discontent in Ladakh
The government even kept it in its 2019 election manifesto – it was in fact one of the top three promises they made. (Behind Wangchuk’s seat hung a copy of the manifesto in which the BJP promised to implement the Sixth Schedule, and the climate activist also pointed to it in between his address).
So people voted “heavily” for the BJP and the party won from Ladakh. But the BJP didn’t keep their promise, Wangchuk said. “For months, they went silent. They were even upset when we reminded them of this promise.”
Wangchuk also alleged that the government even took police action against anybody who uttered the words “Sixth Schedule”, despite it being a provision in the Indian constitution. So in 2020, Ladakhis decided to boycott the elections to the Hill Council of Leh, he said.
But the present government sent a special airplane to Leh, took Ladakhi leaders to Delhi and appealed to them to let the election proceed. The government promised they would “solve everything” after the elections.
“Our tribal indigenous leaders and people are very trusting,” Wangchuk said. So once again, the people of Ladakh “voted heavily” for the BJP and they formed the government for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council.
Two elections were thus won on this promise by the BJP, Wangchuk pointed out.
Yet four years later, nothing has happened, he added. The home ministry kept “dilly-dallying”, not taking decisions, giving several excuses, and so on, he said.
‘Climate fast is now our only resort’
“Finally on March 4, they outright denied any possibility [of this] and said that we cannot give you the Sixth Schedule,” Wangchuk said. A UT with legislature or statehood is also not possible, they said.
Ladakhi people, therefore, “are very hurt” and our “only resort” is to start a movement, Wangchuk said.
“So that not only people in Ladakh but all over the nation join us in the support and defence of truth and justice … it’s not just about Ladakh. When somebody makes a promise, they must keep it…
“It’s like giving a cheque which says Sixth Schedule and then you take it and it bounces. That should not be acceptable. In fact, it should be punishable. That’s why we are on a fast.”
Thousands of protesters rallied in Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh on Saturday, February 3, in protest against the constitutional changes brought about by the reading down of Article 370. Photo: By Special Arrangement
More and more people are joining the fast in different days, Wangchuk said, showing a glimpse of the people gathered at the site sitting with him via his phone camera. Around 1,000 people have joined him for the fast on March 13, he said.
“There is resentment among people, but we hope that this shows the central [Union] government how serious the matter is,” he added.
“This struggle will take long, but we are ready,” he also commented later, in reply to other questions posed by activists and members of the media during the virtual press conference.
Wangchuk also said that he was “surprised” that the government is not paying attention to their protest in such a sensitive region, which is surrounded by international borders.
Ladakhis have supported the Indian army, shoulder-to-shoulder, on every occasion across decades, he said.
“They [the government] will lose a great friend if they keep treating Ladakh this way,” he said.
“Because Ladakhis will no longer be passionate about risking our lives to help, if they feel that the government is not protecting them in any way. It would be badkismati [bad luck] if that happens. And the current ruling party will be responsible for this…
“Ladakhis have always been with the country but if this continues, people will be very confused about what to do. That’s why it is important that the government not take this lightly.”
All regions, religions and political parties in Ladakh are with this movement; even the BJP was, because they did include the implementation of the Sixth Schedule in their manifesto. But it’s a different matter that now they are not, Wangchuk said in response to questions by other media houses.
Wangchuk called on people from across India to join this “struggle for truth, struggle for protection of fragile environment and struggle for democracy”.
The innovator who won laurels for his ice stupas – enormous ‘stupas’ or blocks of ice constructed in such a way that it melts slower than usual and supplies villages in Ladakh with a constant water supply – has called on people across the country to join him on his climate fast for a single day – on Sunday (March 17) – to show their solidarity and support for the movement.
And activists and environmentalists across the country are responding. People and organizations across several cities and towns in India have formed groups in solidarity with Wangchuk’s climate fast, and have pledged to fast on March 17 to show support for Ladakh and its environment.
FOLFON founder Dilip Jain told The Wire that his organisation has 20 active chapters. These include activists and groups across several states including Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; and city chapters in Mumbai, Kolhapur, Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra; Coimbatore and Chennai in Tamil Nadu; Bengaluru in Karnataka and Hyderabad in Telangana.
Pictured here is the Tso Moriri lake, which is part of what Wangchuk calls one of Ladakh’s “fragile ecosystems”. Photo: Tanay Kibe/Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic.
Almost 200 students from Ladakh University – as part of the Ladakh Students’ Union – also joined Wangchuk on his climate fast a day ago, as per reports.
However, though there were some obstacles that university administrators put in place to prevent their support, the students still made it to the protest site and will continue to support this movement, a student said in a YouTube video.
‘Locals have to manage Ladakh’s fragile ecosystems’
Ladakh is home to “very fragile ecosystems” – from the Tso Moriri lake ecosystem to the Pangong ecosystem – or fragile cultures such as the Changpa tribes, Wangchuk told The Wire.
“You can’t have bulls in this China shop … If it is just like this, then it is open to all industrial lobbies [and] mining lobbies to come and exploit this, blindly, blatantly, like it has happened in many parts of the Himalayas. And we can see the impacts of that, from Himachal to Uttarakhand to Sikkim. We don’t want this to be repeated in Ladakh.”
Moreover, the implementation of the Sixth Schedule is not “like putting a wall around Ladakh”, he added.
“Sometimes people say there will be no development, you want industries for jobs and so on. Jobs and industries can still come; but only with consultations with the local and indigenous people.
“So all the Sixth Schedule does is it forms autonomous councils, like microassemblies, where indigenous people send their chosen elected representatives. And they make the laws and policies for these fragile hills. So they can decide that certain industries are positive and others are not.
“Without the Sixth Schedule, one entity will decide and it will not be in the best interests of the people.”
So it’s about giving rights to the local indigenous people – because they will be concerned about the next generation, unlike a three-year term bureaucrat, Wangchuk said, in response to The Wire’s question about what will happen to the ecology, environment and the people of Ladakh if the Sixth Schedule is not implemented.
Local, indigenous people will be good stewards of the environment and take good care of it, as they always have, he told The Wire in the virtual press conference.
The same applies to the assembly: the Sixth Schedule operates at the district or grassroots level, while statehood operates at the macro, state level because the funds for the state or the UT come from the Union government and right now, this is decided by just one lieutenant governor.
“People from the region will never take decisions that come at the cost of the next generation,” he added.
“That’s why it is important for the environment that the sons and daughters of this soil be allowed to take decisions about this peculiar landscape and ecosystem that nobody else is likely to understand.”
Also read: Why Citizens’ Groups in Ladakh Are Turning Down the Union Home Ministry’s Olive Branch
‘Material development doesn’t excite us’
Meanwhile, two days ago, news reports talked of a “close collaboration” being worked out between the governments of India and Iceland to explore more sources of geothermal energy in both Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh.
Geothermal energy is energy obtained from hot water buried deep inside the earth’s surface, which can generate electricity from heat.
Wells are being drilled as part of the endeavours to develop geothermal energy sources, Iceland’s foreign minister Bjarni Benediktsson told ANI on March 11.
Geothermal energy is classified as a source of green energy because it is renewable and does not pollute the atmosphere as fossil fuels do. However, it comes with its own pitfalls in many cases.
In fact, a case in point exists in Ladakh itself. In Ladakh’s Puga Valley, India is building its first geothermal power plant; but the project is currently stalled, reported Scroll, because geothermal fluid – water containing dissolved minerals and sometimes even acids such as sulphuric and hydrochloric acid – leaked into the Puga stream in August 2022, and locals complained about the pollution.
So are these the kind of projects that Ladakhis would be able to regulate if they had the power to do so?
Geothermal and solar power plants are some of the “more benevolent” projects being slated for Ladakh (though even some of these have problems), Wangchuk replied in response to this question.
Ladakhis would love to share their solar energy with the rest of India, but the location of such projects should be done in consultation with locals, he pointed out.
For instance, a ten gigawatt solar energy project is to come up in the Changthang region of Ladakh, per reports. However, this should have been decided with the consultation of the Changpa nomadic tribes, Wangchuk pointed out.
“Currently, they are planning to take up roughly 150 square kilometres … and this will be in prime pastures of these nomadic tribes, who produce some of the world’s finest pashmina [wool] or cashmere,” he said.
“If they [the Changpa tribes] were consulted, maybe they could have shown better places that do them less harm, or in other ways that benefit them.”
Then there is mining, of uranium, lithium and so on. Maybe locals can give solutions in which the mining can be conducted in a way that will not disable them for life for “so-called development which is not actually development”, he added.
“We are not so excited about material development where there is no limit to what you want and disregard every resource that nature has, disregard human indigenous populations, wildlife, flora, fauna. That’s not development.”
Have people lost faith in the current government?
With the BJP not fulfilling its promises to Ladakh by not implementing the Sixth Schedule, what does this mean for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections?
“Mobilising peoples’ movements is a basic part of a democracy,” Wangchuk replied in response to this question by The Wire.
“We don’t want to take guns or anything, we just want to make the government realise it [our problem] by people inflicting pain on themselves, not on others. Not taking others hostage, but keeping myself hostage here for 21 days, hungry. So that’s what we will carry on.
“There will be a critical mass of people that will be dangerous for the government after a point. It already exists in Ladakh … any time a spark can blow it up.”
“A government in a democracy is concerned about its votes and seats … already in Ladakh, it is granted that they have lost the faith of the people, and therefore the votes and seat[s].
But that’s not enough, one seat doesn’t matter. That’s why we are reaching out to the rest of India because it’s not just Ladakh’s issue, it’s about what kind of democratic system we are going to have…we want enough numbers of people to join us and this is the only way the government will move on it.
“So through your media, we want to appeal to the people of India that tomorrow it will be your turn. When it is happening in Ladakh we have to stand up for each other.”
